Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel by American abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe which treats slavery as a central theme. The work was first published on March 20, 1852. The novel soon became the best-selling novel of the 19th century (and the second best-selling book of the century after the Bible)http://www.enotes.com/uncle-toms/ and is credited with helping to end slavery in the United States. Despite this, the book also helped create and spread common stereotypes about African Americans, many of which endure to this day.

Other characters

Arthur Shelby

Tom's master in Kentucky. Shelby is characterized as a "kind" slaveowner and a stereotypical Southern gentleman. When Shelby experiences a financial crisis because of gambling debts, he sells Tom and Harry to save his plantation.

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Emily Shelby

Mr. Shelby's wife is a deeply religious woman who strives to be a kind and moral influence upon her slaves. She is appalled when her husband negotiates to sell his slaves with a slave trader, especially since she promise Harry's mother Eliza that this would not happen.

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George Shelby

Authur and Emily's son. At the beginning of the novel he is thirteen years old and teaches Tom to read. He vows to find Tom when he is sold. He eventually does this, but not until years later when Tom is near death. Inspired by Tom, young Shelby frees the slaves on his deceased father's plantation.

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Augustine St. Clare

Tom's third owner, father of Little Eva; of the slaveowners in the novel, the most sympathetic character. St. Clare recognizes the evil in chattel slavery, but is not quite ready to relinquish the wealth it brings him. His sometimes good intentions ultimately come to nothing: upon his death, Tom and his other slaves (excepting only Topsy) are put on the auction block.

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